The Great Model Railway Challenge

Started by Newportnobby, September 22, 2018, 08:53:44 PM

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acook

Quote from: javlinfaw7 on October 06, 2018, 01:40:20 PM
Please don't let them do a "celebrity" version

Hang on, Rod Stewart vs Mick Jagger vs Neil Young, I'd buy a telly for that!

I think Mick is the Stone with the trains?

Alan (waiting for the soundtrack album from that show)

weave

Eddie Izzard hosting,

Sounds like a right laugh. Think you might have something there.

:beers:

kirky

Surely Jools Holland should host it?
Kirky
Northallerton will make its next public appearance will be at Perth model railway show https://smet.org.uk/show/layouts/
June 24/25 2023.

Layout: Northallerton: http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1671.msg16930#msg16930

www.northallertonngauge.co.uk

Cleveland Model Railway club website: www.clevelandmrc.club

Papyrus

Quote from: ntpntpntp on October 06, 2018, 03:39:25 PM
Quote from: littlegs on October 06, 2018, 01:50:47 PM
Watched it last night,
3 groups including one from my local area(Porthcawl)...

... and now you've completely given the game away for anyone still waiting to watch the episode on catch-up . ho-hum!

Hmm, yes! But it's my own silly fault for reading this thread before watching last night's recording!

As opinions are so divided I'll give it a go, although I dislike all the contrived competition programmes - Bake Off, I'm a Celebrity, Strictly and the rest. The main question seems to be - does it do anything to improve the general public's negative view of railway enthusiasts?

Cheers,

Chris

guest311

missed it last night [SWMBO had the remote] but watched it on my5 this morning.

basically, thought it was AWFULL.
had the chance to really promote the hobby, show how different teams did things, and show how many skills can be learnt / input into a layout...

but you ended up, IMHO, with a load of tat.

so many chances lost, but I have to watch heat 3 as my mate's club has a team in it, I'd never hear the end of it if I missed it.

very glad the cheaters got cut down, even after being given the chance to limit their rule breaking they chose to continue, then claimed they 'ran out of time'  :veryangry:
bit like someone turning up at a cooking show with a ready made item. if I was the chairman of that club I would not be happy at how they were portrayed.

great effort by the actual heat winners, but really just another so called reality tv show with no content.

certainly wouldn't encourage me to look into railway modelling, if I was not already bitten, too many years ago, by the bug.

to those who disagree, my apologies, but those are my views, warts and all.

MalcolmInN

It made a change to all those cooking progs !

As for the multiplicity of pre-built units - - it could be argued that it is difficult to demonstrate forced perspective with just one or two houses, thus the several rows could be deemed one unit for that porpoise, could it not ?

Wot me play devil's advocate, shirly not !!

Yep, it is I, back after an unexpected hospitalisation :-( keeping fongers xxed.

daffy

Quote from: Lindi on October 06, 2018, 07:37:57 PM
Quote from: kirky on October 06, 2018, 05:53:09 PM
Surely Jools Holland should host it?
Kirky

But how could he join in on his piano?

Oh I'm sure he could squeeze something in. ;)
Mike

Sufferin' succotash!

stevewalker

Quote from: javlinfaw7 on October 06, 2018, 01:40:20 PM
Please don't let them do a "celebrity" version

Oh I don't know - Pete Waterman, Rod Stewart, etc.?

Pjlons83

I personally thought it was OK.... but only OK. I'm sure I'll watch the rest of the series but as others have said I think I was more disappointed that there was not much actual "modelling" shown.
Gold Hill - my rule 1, "just for fun" micro layout;

Clouds Hill - My first layout currently on hold;

Newportnobby

Quote from: stevewalker on October 06, 2018, 10:06:28 PM
Quote from: javlinfaw7 on October 06, 2018, 01:40:20 PM
Please don't let them do a "celebrity" version

Oh I don't know - Pete Waterman, Rod Stewart, etc.?

If Pete Waterman's music is anything to go by it could certainly be amusing :P ;)

silly moo

I think Pjlons83 has hit the nail on the head, it would have been a lot better if a bit more actual modelling was shown. How were the baseboards built? How was the track laid? If I compare it with James May's Toy Stories they managed to be informative and showed people interacting.

I'll still watch the next few episodes just to see if they improve or not.

guest311

much better clips on youtube, even if they are often in that Orible Other scale, showing actually how to do things.

in last night's episode, for someone who was looking to possibly get into railway modelling, in any scale, ...
why was someone hitting track with a hammer ?
why was someone else dumping stuff on trackwork ?
what was that funny white stuff with zig-zag cutouts in it ?
what is plaster bandage ?

guess they would have been even more baffled by the end of the program that at the beginning. certainly nothing to draw them into the hobby.


Chris Morris

Quote from: silly moo on October 06, 2018, 10:32:42 PM
I think Pjlons83 has hit the nail on the head, it would have been a lot better if a bit more actual modelling was shown. How were the baseboards built? How was the track laid? If I compare it with James May's Toy Stories they managed to be informative and showed people interacting.

I'll still watch the next few episodes just to see if they improve or not.
But thats not what these programmes do. You don't see much of techniques in either Bake off or Sewing Bee.
Working doesn't seem to be the perfect thing for me so I'll continue to play.
Steve Marriott / Ronnie Lane

littlegs

Quote from: MalcolmAL on October 06, 2018, 07:36:35 PM
It made a change to all those cooking progs !

As for the multiplicity of pre-built units - - it could be argued that it is difficult to demonstrate forced perspective with just one or two houses, thus the several rows could be deemed one unit for that porpoise, could it not ?

Wot me play devil's advocate, shirly not !!

Yep, it is I, back after an unexpected hospitalisation :-( keeping fongers xxed.
Malc,
Don't try to defend them .
They chose to cheat and got caught.
Fair enough if the 3 or 4 rows of houses had been built as one unit . Then it could have been called 1 pre build.
As the judges said "the pre built units were very good but the modelling actually done during the three days was shabby" . And to say they didn't have enough time is a very lame excuse, after all the layout was 3/4 complete BEFORE they arrived at the competition !!
Regards Chris

guest311

well, as expected I received a reply from my mate to my comments I'd e-mailed him on the program....

found your comments on the TV program less than helpful given the amount of effort expended by each team.   We were VERY happy to see Missenden put out and the heat winner was worthy.    But the producers have brought the hobby to the attention of the wider public and no doubt they will be reading the feedback and changing the format if it gets a second series.

what effort - we saw very little of the modelling.
brought the hobby to the attention of the wider public - great, a load of cheats got caught, and you can get a couple of mates round and build a model railway in a couple of days [are you getting my best side on camera ?]

I DO NOT WISH TO IMPLY THAT MOST OF THE TEAMS DID NOT WORK THEIR HEARTS OUT TO CONTRIBUTE TO A PROGRAM ABOUT MODEL RAILWAYS, but to my mind, as usual, the production company then sold them out to produce 'good tv, which in my humble opinion, it wasn't.

with less concentration on the presenters, much more could have been put across about actually modelling...

DC versus DCC, how to lay and ballast track etc, I'm sure we could all keep adding to the list.

my fear is that this, like so many of these programs, trivializes the subject to allow 'personalities' to produce a program, and as such puts more people off than it inspires.

how many train sets were bought at the weekend to produce a train layout for little Johnnie, and how many will be binned when dad finds he can't build a layout over the weekend like he thought he could ?

based on the first episode, three teams spent three days building their layouts, ie 9 days work.
by the time you have taken out the adverts, this is represented by 45 minutes of film, the vast majority of which is either clips of the steam train, going over what has been shown previously, or the presenters or judges prattling on.
oh, some odd bits of someone doing something on a layout, but not much info on what / why / how !

can't help but remember the programs by, IIRC, Bob Symes [apologies if I got the name wrong] who knew his subject, was enthusiastic about it, and INFORMATIVE.

so, from me, a score of 'nil points' for this series so far, and a profound hope that it does NOT damage our hobby.


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